Transmit Power Amplifier (PA) load switching is a technique in a transmitter of a communications device which dynamically adjusts the impedance match at the output of the transmitter PA to improve the linearity, efficiency, and current drain of the PA at different power levels. This is accomplished by dynamically switching among multiple loads at the PA output. Unfortunately, this PA load switching technique causes large abrupt power and phase changes at the PA output. This leads to unacceptable transient Adjacent Channel Power and phase discontinuity performance in the transmitted signal making it difficult to meet the necessary transmit performance requirements for various communication standards (e.g., GSM, EDGE, WCDMA). Also, large abrupt power changes due to the load switching causes the closed loop power control system longer to track out such large power steps during a power ramping process. This in turn makes it difficult to also meet the required Power versus Time mask specifications for a given communications standard in such situations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to quickly and effectively compensate for large abrupt power and phase discontinuities due to PA load switching to meet the necessary transmit performance requirements. In addition, it is desirable to automatically and effectively control this load switching when a closed loop transmit power control system is employed to achieve the required transmit power accuracies at different power levels. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.